I'm a minister and a sexologist. Yes, those words do go together! I am also the executive director of the Religious Institute (www.religiousinstitute.org), a multifaith organization dedicated to sexual health and justice. I hope you'll join me in exploring the connection between sexuality, religion and spirituality, and the need for sexual justice in our faith communities and society.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

TV Fall Preview

I met yesterday with Neil Guiliano, the relatively new Executive Director of GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD has a long program of working with the media on the portrayal of sexual minorities, and I'm excited that they will be started initiatives this year on youth and on reaching out to faith communities. I am looking forward to collaborating with them.They have just published a new study of the upcoming 2006 - 2007 TV season. Now my regular readers know I watch way too much television, and ever since I was small, I have looked forward to reading about new series in the fall preview issue of TV Guide. With the loss of Will & Grace, this upcoming season there only have 9 gay characters on broadcast entertainment shows, although nearly three times that many on cable networks. Day time talk though is another matter -- there's Ellen and I can't wait to see what Rosie does on The View.The number of ministers on entertainment television though has now gone to zero, with the final season of Seventh Heaven and the very short lived show with the Episcopal minister from last season. I don't think I've ever seen a woman minister on an entertainment series -- have you? Maybe Grey's Anatomy could use a woman hospital chaplain.